Goldengirl

LOS ANGELES, May 25 — A 20-foot wave, described by oceanologists as a ‘one in a million hazard’ caused five deaths on popular Huntington State Beach at 3:16 yesterday afternoon. From a sea so calm that surfers had mostly given up waiting for rides, the wave built into a vast wall of water within seconds. Eyewitnesses described it as ‘terrifying — like a street block coming at you.’ Parents along the crowded beach screamed to their children as it towered above them, but few got clear before it hit them, sweeping them as much as fifty feet up the beach.

Fatalities

The effect of the killer wave was clear seconds later, when scores of bathers were seen struggling in deep water, dragged out of their depth by its undertow. Many were temporarily blinded by the sand in the water. The six lifeguards on duty were assisted by volunteers in the rescue operation. It was thought for a time no fatalities had occurred, but a search of the water by helicopter revealed three bodies. Two more were recovered later. The dead were identified as John Paschal, 15, of Palm Springs; Patrick Lamont, 24, Huntington; Darryl Horn, 20, San Diego; Miss Anne English, 30, Santa Barbara; and Miss T. Hofmann, 22, Inglewood.

The report went on for another column, but there were no other particulars on Trudi. He found those in the issue for May 27 on an inside page under her photograph: the one he had seen in Goldine’s quarters.

BEACH VICTIM DIED RESCUING CHILD

LOS ANGELES, May 27 — A victim of Friday’s tragedy on Huntington State Beach, when a freak wave caused five drownings, actually died going to the rescue of her two-year-old daughter, who survived. She was Trudi Hofmann, 22, a TWA stewardess, of Lincoln Boulevard, Inglewood. The incident was described yesterday by Mrs. Diane Pershore, who was sitting near Miss Hofmann when the 20-foot killer wave reared up unexpectedly in a calm sea. Stated Mrs. Pershore, ‘I noticed the young woman playing with her daughter, and presently the child went down to the water’s edge, leaving her mother sunbathing. As the screaming started along the beach at the sight of the advancing wave, she got up and raced toward her daughter. Next thing they both disappeared in the foam and must have been dragged way out of their depth, as other bathers were. The water was two feet deep where I was sitting, forty feet behind the tideline. In the confusion, I lost sight of those two, but later I saw the little girl carried from the water by a lifeguard. She was just a scrap of a kid.’

Devoted to Child